Wow…what a weekend. First off…congrats to Smokin Joe Stiles on his win in Memphis…talk about winning ugly. 

The weekend was full of highs and lows for just about everybody. Rob VW’s trailer had some MAJOR issues on the way to Memphis and had to be welded back together after breaking apart in a parking lot. Lucky for everyone, it happened there and not on the road. Qualifying on Friday started out pretty slow for everyone. It was hard to get down the track. Rob’s luck didn’t improve much when he burned up some pistons. Not to fear, he flew home for some spares and was ready to go by 1pm Saturday for round 2 of qualifying. It goes without saying he was very appreciative of everyone’s help in getting him ready to go again. Unfortunately, he lost another piston during that round, but still hung on for the show…wounded motor & all.  Dave Douma had a rough time in 2^nd round of qualifying when he took out one of the boxes resulting in no time for him or Ray.  Smoking Joe managed to pull off a 7.88 during that round giving him the #1 qualifier position and Mike Priola turned in a stout 8.02 in Q2. 

Last round of qualifying their luck was a little different when Smokin Joe came “this close” to the right wall and Mike Priola totally wiped out the time box mid track. Ray had a flame up at the starting line that round so again no time for him.  As luck would have it, Dave McCorkle turned in his best time ever with an 8.18 during that round. Congratulations Dave!  Nice run!  And Bill Houghton turned his luck around by running a clean 7.89 giving him the #2 qualifier position.  That’s the way it was…one guy had a great run and the guy next to him had a rough time. 

Race day round one: Joe Stiles lined up against Ray Gustafson who ran his best time ever with an 8.07. Nice job Ray! Unfortunately for him, Smokin Joe ran a 7.95 for the win. Rob lined up against Bill Houghton with his wounded motor and Bill took the win with a 7.86 @ 176mph.  Mike Priola ran an 8.01 against Dave McCorkle with an 8.23 and Jerry Sevik took out Dave Douma with an 8.08 against Dave’s 8.93.  I’m telling you, it was a rough track to get down straight. There was definitely some driving going on in Memphis!

Round 2 had Mike Priola lined up against Bill Houghton. Bill took the win with a 7.83 against Mike’s 8.05. Jerry Sevik faced Joe Stiles who won with an 8.00 flat @ 177mph against Jerry’s 8.29. It was practically a slip & slide out there.

The finals pitted Bill Houghton against Joe Stiles. It was looking to be quite a race with both of those guys turning in 7.83’s during the weekend.  Bill’s car went WAY LEFT almost into the wall while Joe’s car tire shook pretty much the entire way down the track. Joe took the win with an 8.21.